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Description: Automated vehicles are being developed at a rapid pace and automated driving systems are becoming more and more advanced. Before long automated vehicles will be a common
mode of transport on our r...

Automated vehicles are being developed at a rapid pace and automated driving systems are becoming more and more advanced. Before long automated vehicles will be a common
mode of transport on our roads. There will, however, be a transition period during which a mixture of manually driven,
partially automated and fully automated vehicles will be participating
in traffic.

SWOV Article

March 2017

Automated vehicles in
traffic

How will pedestrians and
cyclists react
Automated vehicles are being developed at a rapid pace and such’ to a situation with automated vehicles or to a situation with
automated driving systems are becoming more and more vehicles with different levels of automation. The behaviour of
advanced. Before long automated vehicles will be a common pedestrians and cyclists may very well be different in their interac-
mode of transport on our roads. There will, however, be a tion with automated vehicles. The research that has been done
transition period during which a mixture of manually driven, on the interaction between automated vehicles and pedestrians
partially automated and fully automated vehicles will be par- and cyclists, has seldom used the perspective of pedestrians and
ticipating in traffic. The recently published SWOV report Safe cyclists. It is therefore difficult to estimate the safety effects of (a
interaction between cyclists, pedestrians and automated vehi- transition towards) automated vehicles for this category of road
cles investigates what is known about the interactions between users and, consequently, to know what must be done to prevent
(partially) automated vehicles and vulnerable road users and crashes between these road user categories or to minimize their se-
does this from the perspective of pedestrians and cyclists. verity. SWOV therefore set out to provide an overview of current
knowledge about the interaction of pedestrians and cyclists with
Vulnerable road users (partially) automated vehicles, from the perspective of pedestrians
Pedestrians and cyclists are vulnerable road users because they and cyclists; decision making and behavioural aspects as well as
do not have a protective shell and are therefore easily (fatally) potential road safety consequences were investigated. The findings
injured. This is particularly the case in crashes with heavier, faster are used to identify knowledge gaps: what we need to know to
vehicles such as cars, delivery vehicles and trucks. In addition, the ensure that the safety of pedestrians and cyclists is not affected
behaviour of pedestrians and cyclists is often unsystematic and by an automated driving system and or by the transition period
unpredictable. Crash statistics show that most of the pedestrian towards such a system.
and cyclist road deaths occur in crashes with motorised vehicles,
mainly in urban areas. Findings
Some of the problems that have been identified in the SWOV
Perspective literature study are presented below.
The interaction between pedestrians and cyclists and motorised
vehicles is important for road safety, especially for that of the Road deaths
vulnerable road users. Current interaction patterns and strategies Worldwide, pedestrians and cyclists account for just over 25% of
of pedestrians and cyclists cannot be automatically transferred ‘as all road deaths, in the European Union for almost 30% and in

SWOV Article / March 2017 / P.1
the Netherlands for almost 40%. Whereas both worldwide and in
Europe, the share of pedestrian road deaths is substantially higher
than the share of cyclist fatalities, this is the other way around in
the Netherlands: 30% of all Dutch road deaths are cyclists and
9% pedestrians. It is sometimes suggested that automated vehicles
can reduce these percentages. Is this indeed the case?

Non-verbal communication
The interactions between road users are essentially based on for-
mal rules and regulations. However, personal characteristics such
as skills and experience, knowledge, motivation, state-of-mind, as
well as age and gender may, either consciously or unconsciously,
influence the correct application of these rules. In addition,
expectations, the presence and behaviour of other pedestrians or
cyclists, as well as feelings of safety or insecurity affect the way
the interactions develop. Communication between road users,
generally non-verbal communication such as nodding or a hand
gesture, helps to clarify their intentions. This type of communica-
tion is impossible in automated vehicles.
they know and appreciate that automated vehicles use an auditory
Predicting intentions and behaviour or visual signal to indicate that they have been spotted and/or to
So far, technology has mainly focused on the detection and show the intentions of the vehicle, they tend not to change the
recognition of pedestrians and cyclists and good progress has been way in which they cross the road.
made. Safe interaction, however, also requires technology that can
reliably predict the intentions and behaviour of pedestrians and Attentiveness
cyclists, so that the vehicle can choose the right course of action. The human driver is expected to play a role until the very last
Automated vehicles stick to the traffic rules and regulations, do level of full automation. However, this role will change from
not exceed the speed limit, and do not make errors due to being being actively in command to that of monitoring the situation
distracted, fatigued, or being under the influence. Road users, on as a supervisor. However, people are known to be unfit for this
the other hand, do make errors and commit violations, and may supervising role, because they are unable to remain attentive for a
look and/or behave in a way the automated vehicle cannot detect longer period of time when they are merely supposed to monitor
or recognize. Making the correct predictions requires further the environment. Therefore, remaining attentive and taking over
research. control adequately and in time when they are required to do so is
a major problem.
Cautious attitude
The limited research carried out so far has found that pedestrians Knowledge gaps and answers
and cyclists generally have a conservative, rather cautious attitude In addition to the problems identified in the previous section,
towards automated cars. Pedestrians and cyclists do not seem to many questions remain; questions that need to be answered in
fully trust the behaviour of automated vehicles when they share order to ensure that further developments towards automated
the road or interact. And, whereas pedestrians/cyclists say that driving will not result in a traffic system that is even less safe for
pedestrians and cyclists.
More information
Many relevant questions such as “Will cyclists and pedestrians
You can find all the details of this SWOV-study and information
change their crossing decisions or their red light compliance?” concern
the problems and knowledge gaps that were identified in the behaviour of pedestrians and cyclists when interacting with
SWOV-report R-2016-16 Safe interaction between cyclists, pedes- automated vehicles and the underlying psychological processes.
trians and automated vehicles; What do we know and what do Other questions concern the likely transition period from com-
we need to know? pletely manually-driven vehicles to fully automated vehicles, or
measures to help pedestrians and cyclists to interact safely with
Much information can also be found under the project descrip- automated vehicles.
tion on the SWOV-website:
S17.05 Safe interaction between cyclists, pedestrians and autono- Answers to these questions need to be shared with those who
mous vehicles
need them most: road authorities, car manufacturers and software
developers.